WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Scream, now playing in theaters.

The new Scream tried to move the franchise forward for a new generation of horror fans while still paying tribute to the past. In the process, it poked fun at the franchise for losing its soul during the superficial sequels, evidenced by the in-movie commentary about the Stab films. However, as it added these meta shots, the film made a massive mistake by wasting its legacy characters.

The only old head that got fair play was Deputy Dewey (David Arquette), who came in to help Sam and the new era of Woodsboro teens solve the case of the new Ghostface killer after Tara's attack in the opening scene. He left his sheriff's job and was split from Gale Weathers (Courtney Cox), which left him free to put the bottle down from his trailer and try to catch the new murderer.

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This gave Dewey ample screen time, and while he died during the film, his role felt organic and honored the old films. But the same couldn't be said for Gale and Sidney Prescott, who only returned once Dewey died. Sidney would console Gale before heading to Stu's old home, where the real slasher was hosting a party to pick victims off. This led to Gale being shot and removed for most of the final act, while Sid was relegated to a repetitive moment that saw the culprits delivering exposition about the new murder spree.

The killers, Sam's boyfriend, Richie, and Tara's friend, Amber, lacked a connection to Sid and Gale, which is why, when Amber tried to end the women, it fell flat. Had the women been with the teens, discussing how to investigate alongside Dewey, and used their past to suss the mystery out, it would have resonated more. Their experiences and aim to pass the baton on would have created an emotional response when the time came for Amber to attack them. It would have also been nice to see the ladies sort out their complicated history outside of Dewey's death, as they were at each other's throats for so long.

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Instead, they're severely underused as pseudo-sisters, merely reuniting to kick butt together, which is what Richie and Mindy critiqued early on when they spoke about movies in a satirical manner. They, as well as Amber, were sick of cash grabs like Stab and sticking cameos in, complaining how the old and new eras weren't bridged well. Thus, Scream felt hypocritical, especially since all Sid did was roll around with Amber to grab the gun while Gale jumped in to finish the kill.

Scream should have taken a lesson from 2018's Halloween and its follow-up, Halloween Kills, which made Jamie Lee Curtis' Laurie an integral part of the story while ushering in new characters. She indoctrinated her family into hunting Michael Myers, which is why whether they killed or got killed, fans felt the anguish. Without that in the new Scream, no matter the victories or defeats, the legacy characters felt like an afterthought.

To see how the legacy characters are ignored, Scream is playing in theaters now.

KEEP READING: Scream's Most Sympathetic Victim Wasn't Sidney Prescott or Anyone She Knew